In his urgency, Steve cut off the room owner’s words before they were even finished.
“It’s me. Open the door.”
“What brings you here?”
“It’s urgent. You need to go to the Duke’s estate. But first, open the door.”
What a slow-witted fool.
Even in a situation like this, he was dragging his feet.
Steve was cursing the sluggish servant in his mind when the door finally started to open—slowly.
Even before the door was fully open, Steve shoved his foot inside. But the moment he took in the scene inside the room, he froze.
The first thing he saw was the kitchen servant, bound and forced to kneel.
Standing behind him, holding the rope, was Peter.
The man who had always seemed easygoing now wore a terrifying expression Steve had never seen before.
“Why are you here…?!”
Seeing someone who shouldn’t be there, Steve instinctively stepped back.
As a knight hardened by years on the battlefield, all his senses screamed danger. Without hesitation, he tried to flee.
But at that moment, the doors around him swung open in unison.
Knights stepped out, swords in hand, each blade aimed directly at him.
Cold sweat ran down Steve’s back. His escape route was blocked.
“Should we start by hearing why you’re here?”
A low voice cut through the tension as the knights parted.
Through the opening, Leopord walked in leisurely.
Steve, desperately scanning for an escape route, locked eyes with Leopord—and felt a deep sense of despair.
He had observed Leopord closely for years.
He knew better than anyone that anyone who turned their back on Leopord never lived. Not a single exception.
His fingertips began to tremble.
“I…… I…”
Leopord stared at him with chilling indifference before arrogantly tilting his chin toward the knights.
Following his silent command, three knights rushed forward and tightly bound Steve with rope.
“Where should we take him?”
“Take him to the interrogation room.”
At the mention of that dreadful, dark place—where prisoners of war had been held until recently—Steve started struggling.
But the hands of his former comrades were unyielding.
He couldn’t go to the interrogation room.
The Northern Army’s interrogations were infamous for their brutality.
And now, these knights had just returned from war, their blood still running hot.
Desperate to buy time, Steve twisted his body and shouted.
“Since when…? Since when have you known?!”
Steve had been a spy for a long time.
Ever since he, a noble from an old Baron family, had fallen out of the Duke’s favor and ended up serving under Leopord.
He had believed he hadn’t been caught.
Leopord had trusted him enough to let him fight alongside his wife.
So he had let his guard down.
The mere absence of Peter had made him act rashly.
Never had he imagined that Leopord had known his true identity all along.
‘My performance was perfect!’
Steve was desperately struggling when Leopord twisted the corners of his lips into a smirk.
“My daughter told me so.”
She had clutched his finger tightly, looking up at him with blue eyes that mirrored Lucy’s.
‘The kitchen servant is acting weird. He keeps eavesdropping when he’s with the nanny. He even said something about the prince being in our house. And… and Sir Steve talked about that too!’
Mariela was smart, but she was only three years old.
One couldn’t believe everything a child said—
Even if she was reporting something suspicious.
Steve had been loyal to Leopord for a long time.
He was the type to risk his life for achievements, but that wasn’t necessarily a flaw.
Had it been anyone else accusing Steve and the kitchen servant of being spies, Leopord wouldn’t have believed them.
‘Send the knights to secretly check on the servant. He’s a bad person.’
But his daughter, who was usually too scared of him to even come near, had spoken her mind for the first time—
And had even added a request.
‘Please? Okay?’
There was no way he could refuse his daughter’s first request.
Steve couldn’t fully grasp what Leopord was saying.
A three-year-old child did what?
But it no longer mattered.
Steve was now Leopord’s enemy, and an enemy didn’t need to know everything.
Leopord stared down at him and added one final remark.
“I couldn’t refuse my daughter’s request.”
As Steve blankly watched Leopord’s oddly satisfied expression, he was dragged away to the interrogation room.
***
After being exposed to magic poison, I was sick for two full days.
It wasn’t serious—just a slight fever and a cough.
I could easily pass it off as catching a cold from the rain.
While lying among worried people and eating all kinds of delicious food, only good news reached my ears.
“—So Sir Steve—no, that bastard Steve—got locked up in the interrogation room. The kitchen servant, Paul, too.”
Betty, who was excitedly chattering, blew on a warm, buttery corn soup and carefully fed it to me before continuing.
“Steve keeps insisting he’s innocent, but when they searched him, they found a letter meant to leak information about our mansion.”
“Really?”
“Yes. And of all things, he wrote it on the back of pages torn from Sir Peter’s diary! So the evidence is perfectly lined up.”
“There’s no way he can talk his way out of this.”
“Exactly! That damn bastard!”
As Betty grew more worked up, Laura discreetly nudged her side, signaling her to be more careful with her words.
She didn’t have to hold back for my sake.
If Betty and Laura weren’t here, I would’ve been punching the air in excitement myself.
‘Serves him right, that bastard!’
To think he was playing spy right under my dad’s nose.
It really proves the saying—the darkest place is under the lamp.
Now let him spill every single crime he’s committed in that interrogation room!
Dad might be a little disappointed to lose a subordinate he trusted for so long…
From what I’d heard, Steve was one of the knights who stayed by my mother’s side until the very end.
So even if he had some suspicious behaviors or flaws, Dad probably overlooked them for that reason.
But not anymore.
Dad was strong, so he could have handled Steve’s scheming without much trouble—
But Dietrich and I were still young.
Thinking of that, Dad had probably decided to send Steve straight to the interrogation room.
Now that the unnecessary people had been dealt with,
I hoped our household would be peaceful from now on.
I just wanted to pester Dad into letting me train in swordsmanship with Dietrich.
“My lady, I have something to ask you~!”
What now?
I leaned back slightly as Laura and Betty suddenly surrounded me, grinning mischievously.
“I need to buy a gift for someone, and I was wondering—what do three-year-olds, no, four-year-olds, usually want?”
“Hmm… not sure?”
“Come on, tell us! Is there anything you really want?”
Hearing their barrage of questions, I glanced over at the calendar on my desk.
It’s already that time of year?
One date, marked heavily in red crayon by the maids, caught my eye.
‘My birthday.’
After this birthday, I would officially turn four.
“What do four-year-olds like?”
Honestly, I didn’t have anything in particular I wanted.
I already had pretty much everything.
‘But if I don’t answer, Betty and Laura won’t leave me alone, will they?’
After some thought, I finally spoke about something that had been on my mind lately.
“I need to grow taller… maybe some milk?”
Stop laughing!
I was growing at a decent rate, but Dietrich was shooting up like a bamboo stalk—
It was a real concern for me!
“Ah, of course, we’re asking for a certain four-year-old, not you!”
“Yes! Please, don’t get the wrong idea!”
Do they think I’m stupid?
I narrowed my eyes and stared at them.
They were way more excited about my birthday than I was, squealing among themselves.
“And this time, your dad is back home!”
“That’s right! He’ll definitely celebrate it properly!”
Oh, right…
This would be my first birthday with Dad here.
That realization made my heart flutter with excitement.
I pressed my hand against my chest to try and calm it down.
